Movie Night!
by J. ROOF
Summary: Movie night on The Enterprise. Just something silly my daughter and I came up with. Short and sweet!


Now that I've gotten a couple reveiws and a few comments from people, I wanted to address a couple points about this story.

As the summary says, my 14 year old daughter and I came up with the idea for this one. Basically these are her ideas as transcribed by Mom. It was meant to be more about Spock's observations. He's "people watching" as one reveiwer put it.

Daughter sees this as a ST:2009 story but I see it as TOS. I guess it could work with either cast.

When we came up with this idea, the 14 year old wanted to know after watching Star Wars one night, what the Trek Crew would think. I still might address that later. Or maybe one of you out there would like to tackle that prompt. (If so, send me a link. I'd like to read it.) I decided to go with Night of The Living Dead for two reasons. That movie was very controversial for it's time. It essentially re-set the bar for horror. It's also the movie that started my other nerdish obsession; zombie movies.

* * *

Movie Night!

As Spock made his way through the crowded assembly room, he spied McCoy with the captain, waving from a row of seats in the back.

He had never gone to a movie theatre before. They didn't have such a thing on Vulcan and he was always too busy with his studies at the academy to join his fellow cadets, even if they had bothered to invite him. But now, as he took his seat next to the captain and Dr. McCoy, he found himself intrigued. The idea that humans would combine viewing a motion picture that was meant to frighten them for pleasure with an opportunity to socialize was interesting to say the least.

A large group from Engineering occupied the row of seats in front of him and Mr. Scott was situating himself between two female yeomen. A redhead Spock believed was named Barrows and a brunette named Mears. Mr. Scott glanced back at Spock and nodded a greeting.

The idea for the screening had originally belonged to Chekov and Sulu. The ship's social committee tried for weeks to find a new idea to raise money for the holiday parties they provided for the crew during the year and had come up with nothing. Whatever they decided on needed to be inexpensive and preferably original. Chekov and Sulu suggested a movie night. A few credits would buy a seat and the traditional bag of popcorn. Candy and soda could be purchased separately at a makeshift concession stand just outside the assembly room. There were plenty of old movies available on the computer to choose from, and without even voting, the committee decided it was the best idea they had so far and a date for the film festival was set.

Most of the seats in the assembly room were taken, and based on his observations; Spock speculated the social committee would take in six hundred fifty-six credits in ticket sales alone.

The lights dimmed as the movie began and Spock noticed how quickly the audience was drawn into the plot.

Chaos descends upon Terran as the brains of the recently deceased become inexplicably reanimated, causing the dead to rise and feed on human flesh. Speculation rests on a radiation-covered satellite returning from Venus. Spock knew this was incorrect but for the time this would have been something for humans to fear. They did not understand fully in those days, how radiation actually affected the human body. The audience didn't seem to notice the inconsistency.

Anyone who dies during the crisis of causes unrelated to brain trauma will return as a flesh-eating zombie, including anyone who has been bitten by a zombie. The only way to destroy the zombies is to destroy the brain. As the catastrophe unfolds, a young woman visiting her father's grave takes refuge in a nearby farmhouse.

As the movie progressed, Spock continued his observations. It wasn't so much that he was interested in the movie as much as the reactions of the humans watching the story unfold.

The woman called Barbara climbed the stairs of the farmhouse to find safety, only to discover a badly mutilated corpse laying on the top step. She screams and the two yeomen sitting on each side of Mr. Scott jumped in unison. Body language was very telling in humans and Spock watched as the chief engineer stretched both arms around the back of the seats beside him, un-noticed by either of his female companions. Apparently Mr. Scott had seen this particular film before and was not as anxious about the upcoming scenes as the young women were. He was obliviously going to use it to some advantage.

Then as the woman on the screen ran outside to the front porch of the house, a man appeared out of nowhere, startling her. Mr. Scott clamped a hand on each yeoman's small shoulder and the ladies jumped again and yelped. Mr. Scott chuckled and the ladies slapped at him playfully and bombarded him with popcorn until someone shushed them.

Spock observed Kirk and McCoy.

McCoy looked as though he were bored out of his mind, although he did seem to be paying attention to the plot. At one point even commenting about a scene where a young couple trying to make their escape from the flesh eating zombies fail, and end up being eaten.

"Well, so much for Tom and Judy," he remarked dryly. Spock noted the doctor looked strangely amused.

Kirk however was deeply engrossed in the movie and sat forward in his seat with his elbows resting on his knees. Although his expression appeared somewhat glazed, every now and then his lips would twitch into a slight frown or a hand would pause midway between his popcorn bag and his mouth.

Chekov and Sulu were certainly enjoying themselves as only their immaturity would allow.

They sat near the corner of the room engaged in a game of sorts with some young female science officers a few rows in front of them. The two young men would wait until the ladies were paying attention to the screen, and then toss a few pieces of popcorn or candy, aiming them at the backs of their target's head. The women would turn around quickly in an attempt to catch their assailants and Chekov and Sulu would pretend to watch the movie until the women gave up and went back to watching it themselves.

Across the center isle, Uhura and Chapel sat huddled together intensely staring at the screen.

Whenever something startled them they clutched each other tightly. When something gory took place they would hide their eyes together, laughing at their fear and disgust when the offensive scene ended.

Their fear was clearly a text book, human, emotional response to a perceived threat. The movie was not a part of their reality, but the fear it manifested was one that almost always related to anxiety over future events, such as worsening of a situation, or continuation of a situation that is unacceptable.

Yet his shipmates seemed to be taking enjoyment from their fear. It was as though some of them took the pleasure from the whole experience of spending time in the company of their friends, while others used it as a brief escape from their own reality and responsibilities, and still others took comfort with each other and bonded through their fear. It was fascinating.

As the movie ended in an ironic twist of fate, Spock decided he would inquire about it with the captain during their next chess game. He would also discuss making this a regular part of the ship's social events and on the next "movie night" as it was called; he would make sure he sat with Uhura and Chapel.


End file.
